RIA Peewee teams gearing up for state tourneys

The Rhinelander Ice Association will see both of its Peewee hockey teams in action this weekend at Wisconsin Amateur Hockey Association state tournaments.

The Peewee A squad will compete in the Class 3A state tournament in Somerset while the Peewee B squad will host the Class 3B state tournament at the Rhinelander Ice Arena. 

A number of the kids hitting the ice this weekend are no stranger to state tournament play. Several of them were on the squad that placed third last year in the Squirt 3A state tournament in Rhinelander, but have now moved up to the Peewee (age 12 and under) level.

“To get those younger kids up to speed as fast as we did and be where we are going to the state tournament, we’ve got to be the youngest team going into that tournament. I’d be shocked to find out we weren’t,” said Randy Ostrom, who is coaching the Peewee As this year after guiding the Squirt A team a season ago. 

“That’s cool for these kids to continue to play at that level. They’re not afraid of that challenge. They just take it and see it as other kids on the ice they’ve got to go compete with and be better than,” Ostrom added.

The Peewee As played their way into this year’s state tournament with a 7-2 victory over Marshfield last month when WAHA regional playdowns were held at the RIA. Though the Hodags dropped the championship game to Tomahawk, 8-1, Region 2 had the wild card entry into this year’s tournament, guaranteeing the runner-up Hodags a berth. 

“Region 2 has got some decent teams in it. It was fun to play our way in,” Ostrom said. “Last year, a lot of these kids got to go to state here in Rhinelander but, since we were hosting, we had a bye into the tournament. It’s a little different to win your way in and go in as the seven seed. 

“It’s going to be a good experience for these kids to go play at that level of tournament somewhere other than right here in Rhinelander.”

    The Rhinelander Ice Association Peewee B hockey team poses for a photograph after finishing second in its home invitational tournament at the Rhinelander Ice Arena Jan. 14. Pictured, prone is goalie Owen Wallermann. In the first row, from left to right, are Nash Swartz, Max Miljevich, Alec Pilat, Marshall Besaw and Emmerich Crass. In the second row are Caleb Rudis, Ben Gehrmann, Collin Jorata, William McCone and Carson DeBay. In the back row are coach Tyler Pyrchalla, coach Shane Crass and head coach Jon Forster. Team member Isabel Welch was unavailable for the photograph. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

The Hodag Peewee Bs have a number of returning skaters from last year’s Peewee level. As the host of this year’s tournament, they automatically earned one of the eight spots in the field.

“It’s a good group,” coach Jon Forster said. “We get a long really well. We have a lot of fun. All the kids, I think we have two or three kids that it’s their first year of Peewees. Most of the kids have been on the Peewee team before, but they’re excited to be there. It’s a pretty good group.

“It’s really exciting to host the state tournament, to not have travel. You’re in your own rink. You’re used to it. You’re watching teams come in that you’ve never seen before. That’s always good.”

Player development is still the name of the game at the Peewee level. Ostrom said the biggest jump for the skaters who moved up from Squirts last year comes in the speed, physicality and team aspects of the game.

“It’s definitely more physical and now you see more than ever that size difference that maybe wasn’t as prevalent when they were squirts. You see that start to develop really quickly,” he said. “The game gets faster the bigger they get and the older they get and you start to see the kids that were maybe really skilled at a younger age are forced to start playing a team game at the peewee level. You just can’t be successful, for long, at the peewee level playing individual hockey.”

The Peewee As come in as the No. 7 seed for their tournament and will bump into to Waupaca right away in the opening round Saturday morning. Though there is no conference affiliation at the youth level, it is worth noting that three Great Northern Conference programs will be represented at the tournament. Tomahawk, the Region 2 champion, is the other. The Hatchets come in as the No. 5 seed and will face Hayward in the opening round. 

Ostrom said the opener against Waupaca will be a litmus test for how much his team has progressed over the course of the season.  

“We played Waupaca in Waupaca earlier this year and they did a pretty good job of taking it to us. It will be really interesting to see where we are now,” he said. “I’ve been doing my research, trying to find out what they’ve been doing recently. It looks like we’ve come a long ways, based on some teams we’ve played that we’ve played recently. It should be a really fun game. It should be an interesting start to the state tournament. We’re the first game, so maybe we can set a tone for underdogs on the weekend.”

Host Somerset comes in as the top seed and will host eighth-seeded Reedsburg/

Wisconsin Dells. Black River Falls is the No. 3 seed and will take on sixth-seeded Beaver Dam. One of those two teams will be Rhinelander’s opponent in the second round of the tournament on Saturday afternoon, based on the outcome of the morning games. The placement games will take place on Sunday.

The field for the 3B tournament was not seeded. Rhinelander will face wild card entry Marinette/

Menominee at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at the RIA in the final of the four quarterfinal games. 

“We’ll look at them this week and see how the year’s been going for them, the players on their teams and see what happens,” Forster said. “I feel like we’ve come a long way since the beginning and we’re kind of peaking at the right time. I’m excited to see how we go into the state tournament weekend.” 

Barron/Chetek-Marshfield, Waupaca-Sauk Prairie and Waupun-Black River Falls round out the first round matchups. Second round games will be played Saturday afternoon and evening, with the placement games starting Sunday morning.

The Hodag Peewee A squad include Lena Chiamulera, Nick Schneider, Sawyer Peters, Gage Chavez, Liam Kennedy, Hugh Anunson, Wyatt Peters, Easton Ostrom, Evan Rodziczak, Max Cahee, Jacob Baumann and Connor McGee. Schneider, Sawyer Peters, Chavez, Anunson, Easton Ostrom and Cahee were on last year’s Squirt A team. 

The B squad includes Max Miljevich, Carson Debay, Marshall Besaw, Isabel Welch, William McCone, Collin Jorata, Caleb Rudis, Nash Swartz, Alec Pilat, Emmerich Crass, Ben Gehrmann and Owen Wallermann. Welch and Jorata were on last year’s Squirt A team.

“This group, I would say they’re particularly close-knit. It builds chemistry fast within the locker room and on the ice,” Ostrom said. “They have no problem holding each other accountable and being on each other when things aren’t going right, but it doesn’t go over the edge. It doesn’t ever get nasty or bad. They’re really good at taking the feedback from their teammates and then turning it into something they can go use on the ice or work with later.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].